COVID-19 Update

According to the Texas Health and Human Services, “the state of Texas will receive 332,750 first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from the federal government next week. The Texas Department of State Health Services has instructed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ship those doses to 212 providers across Texas.

That includes 82 hub providers that will focus on larger community vaccination efforts and 130 additional providers as Texas continues to vaccinate health care workers, residents of long-term care facilities, people 65 and older, and those with medical conditions that put them at greater risk of hospitalization and death from COVID-19.”

Even the rollout has started, many community health clinics around the state have not seen the vaccine according to Chief Operating Officer Keith Creel. Mr. Creel explained that they were diligently trying to get the vaccines as quickly as possible to our community.

That he is in constant communication with state agencies to help ensure people in our area have the availability of the vaccine soon.

In addition to the first doses mentioned above, “the state is ordering 216,350 doses intended as the second dose for people first vaccinated a few weeks ago. DSHS automatically allocates second doses to providers based on the number of first doses they received, so people should be able to return to the same provider to receive their second dose,” reports Texas Health and Human Services (THHS).

The same article from THHS says that “Texas providers have administered more than 1.6 million doses of vaccine. 1.37 million people have received at least one dose, and more than 228,000 have been fully vaccinated. The added hub locations for next week are in Burnet, Dallas, Gregg, Montgomery, and Navarro counties.

Providers in seven new counties will receive the vaccine, bringing the total number of counties where the vaccine has been distributed to 233. People are not required to be vaccinated in their county of residence, and the vaccine has been administered to residents of all 254 counties.”

As mentioned above in comments from Mr. Creel it has still been a challenge to receive the Vaccine. THHS says that it still “remains limited based on the capacity of the manufacturers to produce it, so it will take time for Texas to receive enough vaccine for all the people in the priority populations who want to be vaccinated.

Currently, there is not enough vaccine to supply every provider with vaccine every week. The amount of vaccine provided to Texas is expected to remain steady for the next few weeks. Additional vaccines are in clinical trials, and Johnson & Johnson could request authorization for its vaccine from the Food and Drug Administration as early as next month.”

Are nursing home facilities and some health care professionals have already received it in accordance with CDC guidelines, noting that “healthcare personnel and residents of long-term care facilities should be offered the first doses of COVID-19 vaccines.”

Among them, Linden Focused Care and Wesley House have reported to the Journal-Sun they have received vaccines to distribute to residents and staff.

People can find more information on the COVID-19 vaccine at dshs.texas.gov/coronavirus/immunize/vaccine.aspx.